This invention relates generally to a power management system and method, and more particularly, to a power management system and method for a cooking platform.
There exist different types of cooking platforms, which incorporate various appliances that can be activated individually or simultaneously. For example, a typical electric household range includes an oven and generally four surface heating elements. Once the cooking platform is connected within a household, there will be a preset power supply limit available for use by the cooking platform. In most instances, there exist building codes, which must be adhered to in wiring for such a cooking platforms, so that the available power supply is typically pre-established.
In view of the above, the appliances within the cooking platform (e.g., the oven and surface heating elements) have associated power consumption levels that should not collectively exceed the available power supply to the cooking platform. In this manner, it is assured that all of the appliances in the cooking platform can be simultaneously activated without overloading the electrical circuitry and tripping a breaker. However, from a practical standpoint, it is actually quite rare that all of the appliances will require activation at the same time.
Versatility and other benefits can be made available to a consumer if the cooking platform incorporated additional high-powered appliances, even if these appliances were to collectively exceed the available power supply limit if simultaneously activated. For instance, in the case of a gas household range, it may be advantageous to increase the available upper power input for the oven and/or the surface burners, or to even incorporate a second oven unit as part of the overall range or to also include a convection element. Without correspondingly decreasing the power rating of the individual appliances to safeguard against a system overload, these design changes are not available.